Reports and Documents

The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences has come out with the latest policy paper on Biosafety Assurance for GM Food Crops in India that contains science-based recommendations and concrete actions for safe, inclusive and judicious harnessing of GM technologies for accelerated and sustained crop production.

The scope of this report is to submit the results of the pilot study on water resources assessment using space inputs. Annual water resources during the period 1988-89 to 2007-80, mean annual water resources, water resources during the extreme rainfall conditions in the Godavari, and Brahmani - Baitarni basins are presented.

South Asian trans-boundary issues are inextricably linked to regional geopolitics since the main trans-national river systems are circum-Himalayan and involve countries that are unequal in size and power and have been involved in wars in the last six decades.

The WHO has published a discussion paper on the linkages between health and biodiversity, climate change and desertification, the representation of health in the three Rio Conventions, and the opportunities for more integrated and effective policy.

The growing emphasis on solar energy utilisation to achieve energy security as well as to combat the menace of climate change and global warming has resulted in the formulation of one of the world’s most ambitious solar missions in India.

The preparatory work for Census 2011 began around the end of 2008. The first step was to unambiguously establish and finalize geographical boundaries for all administrative entities, viz., town, wards, districts etc. This "Census of India 2011: Provisional Population Totals" is Paper 1 of 2011 by NCT of Delhi (Series 8).

In an effort towards the planned and sustainable development of Port Blair town and the surrounding villages which are environmentally sensitive and ecologically fragile, the Hon’ble Lt. Governor has approved the Master Plan for Port Blair Planning Area and the approval is notified in A &N gazette.

Urban regeneration policy and practices can be an opportunity to take actions to make cities more climate-friendly and less vulnerable. However, the potential role of urban regeneration is not sufficiently evaluated and understood.

The contemporary debate on the SEZ policy has been quite fierce but the focus has been mostly on the issues pertaining to the establishment, sanctioning procedures, land grabbing and protests against the SEZ policy. In the melee, the major issue of economic utility (if any) of SEZs is forgotten or not bothered about.